Asia, Nepal, Dhaulagiri Ascents, Attempts and Tragedies in the Post-Monsoon

Dhaulagiri, Ascents, Attemps and Tragedies in the Post-Monsoon. There were eight expeditions in the fall to Dhaulagiri (8167 meters, 26,795 feet), all of them on the standard northeast ridge. An International party led by Italian Marco Berti until he was called home and then by Marco Bianchi was successful. This is described below. Led by Olivier Roduit, 7 Swiss climbed the mountain but suffered the loss of Robert Baehler, which is described in the report on the International expedition. The summit was reached on September 5 by Paul-Victor Amaudruz, on the 26th by Stéphane Albasini and on the 27th by Roduit, Nicolas Gex and Pierre Boven. The following also reached the summit: of 3 Japanese led by Ichita Ono, on September 27 Yukito Ueno, Pa Nima Sherpa, Man Bahadur Gurung; of 10 Japanese (all over 50 years) led by Tomiyasu Ishikawa, on October 1 leader Ishikawa, Kaneshige Ikeda, Masat- sugu Konishi, Kiyokazu Netsu, Miss Tamae Watanabe, Sherpas Nima Dorje, Nima Temba, Wangchu; of 7 Americans and 1 Briton led by Richard Henke, on October 3 Americans leader Henke, Rick Taylor and on October 4 Robert Green, Brian Johnson; of 12 Ukrainians led by Ivan Valenia, on October 11 Igor Svergun, on October 13 Vladimir Gorbach, Igor Chaplinsky, Vladimir Lanko and on October 18 leader Valenia, Mrs. Galina Tchekanova, Miss Tamara Ena, Gennady Vasilenko. “Expedition” may not be the right word; in contrast to Soviet-era teams, this group was not highly disciplined nor tightly structured. Those who wanted to climb the mountain and could pay came, and they climbed independently of each other, nominally led by Valenia, an engineer, diplomat, politician and former member of parliament. The leadership was reluctant to talk about the death of Mrs. Galina Tchekanova. Her name had not been included in the team’s membership list (presumably to save money on the permit fee). It seems that she disappeared probably in a fall on October 18 after reaching the summit. Unsuccessful were 8 Belgians led by Bernard Mousny, who got to 6700 meters on October 16 and 7 Frenchmen and 1 Swiss led by Michel Richard who turned back at 7400 meters also on October 16.